It takes Gojo far longer to find Tsumiki's home than he cared to admit.
Granted he didn't know the address, and Hokkaido is pretty big but still, he didn't think it would take this long.
The countryside of Hokkaido is not even a quarter of the island, especially if he discounts the cursed inhabited sections. Tsumiki even idly described her lovely barnyard to him the day before, a half-hazard attempt at filling up time as they both take the long way back to Kyoto.
And yet….. Satoru still struggled to find this kinship-building. He still struggled to find Megumi.
How unfair is that?
He was sure he was in the right spot, maybe a few miles off but he should see it.
He should at least sense it.
But no, nothing. It's like miles and miles of not a single spec of cursed energy. Just woods and wilderness along with the occasional animal or two.
It didn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.
As he walks around hoping to spot a bit of the red-painted shack, Gojo pauses once his feet hit a surface.
Hmmmm, strange.
Nothing is around him, but the tension between his foot and the air is thick, almost concrete. It was like nothing was there, and yet when he looked he saw something. It was a small spout of energy, faint, flickering almost. He pauses again, rubs his eyes, and prays his six eyes aren't playing a trick on him.
When he kicks into the air, he half expects it to glide through the wind. A haha, your wrong moment fueled by his exhaustion.
But instead, his foot collides into a force, the space around him stops flickering for just a moment, and a grand blue wall appears.
It was a barrier, a good one.
It was small and well-built, with portions of cursed energy lined throughout like a spiderweb. It had a cloaking device embedded in it. One so strong most humans wouldn't notice it, most sorcerers would respect it, and most curses wouldn't be able to break it.
Whoever made this was powerful, at least a grade one.
This has Kusakabe written all over it.
Satoru smiles, biting his tongue just a little as he presses his palm against the energy again. This time his eyes light up as the barrier flickers from transparent to dark navy blue.
It was pretty strong, but he's always been stronger.
He pushes at the barrier once more, this time with his hands coated in red, the blue swirling sphere fades, flickers, and trembles hard. Cracks form around it, long and thin, scars of fragility that only seem to grow bigger and bigger as seconds pass. It is only when one crack widens to the length of his waist, that Satoru stops.
He then pulls his hand out of the energy, puckers his lips, and blows. An honest kiss of death.
A final 'fuck you Agent Fuckface'' hit.
The entire barrier shatters instantly, the small fragments of its cursed energy twinkle on the floor like shards of glass. Broken pieces of a once powerful shield.
If this was any other day, Gojo would've laughed. Maybe even called Kusakabe just so he can gloat on just how easy breaking that shit was. But this wasn't any other day, Megumi was alive.
He was here.
Satoru can't fight the smile engraved on his face.
With the barrier now destroyed, and the cloaking it supplied now gone, he finally had a good view of Tsumiki's lovely kinship facility.
The red barn is just as Tsumiki described it, sort of small, kinda run down. It looked more like a shack than a house. But the paintings that liter it, the disarray of toys and hand prints around it, couldn't make any more obvious.
This place was a refuge for dreams, a holding for laughter, and a shelter to grow in. It was a place that brought children comfort and happiness. Sure, the building might be a shack, but this was a home.
A beloved childhood home.
Something Satoru himself always wanted as a kid, but never really had.
God, he can't wait to give this to Megumi back in Tokyo.
As he walks closer to the door Satoru is not the least bit surprised that with every step he takes his heart beats a little bit faster. He's even less surprised when he is not greeted by the sunny women nor any children.
It was 1 am after all.
Megumi and the other children were probably asleep. God, his baby was sleeping. How positively weird is that? His baby is sleeping, and dreaming and alive.
Satoru's next smile almost makes him shudder. His face hurts from grinning, his body shakes with every second. He wants to laugh, cry, and shout all at once. As he reaches the doorknob he has to fight himself to calm his cursed energy. He doesn't want to scare the kids, doesn't want to scare Megumi.
But he's so excited, so very excited.
When he steps into the home he has little time to worry about the lack of locks or congratulate himself on his lack of noise. The second he fully steps into the den, a sweep of feet knocks him down to his knees and cool metal is placed at his throat.
What the fuck. How?
"Don't move, or I'll kill you", a monotone voice echoes from behind.
Gojo groans, just his luck, just his fucking luck. Someone must've followed him here. That's the worst part about being the strongest, there was always someone trying to beat him. Always someone trying to kill him.
He doesn't have time for this.
He tries to turn his head, tries to see who or what had caught him by surprise. But the second he moves an inch the metal digs further into his neck, or at least it would've. The silver kitchen knife is nothing against infinity, the weapon stalling as the perpetrator tries to force it down.
When the knife breaks against the force of infinity, Gojo grabs the fallen piece and swirls his body around. Effectively catching his captor by surprise and caging them in.
With his hand still poised, knife blade present, Satoru is ready to kill whoever just tried to kill him.
Except it isn't a curse, or an enemy of the Gojo Clan, or even a human that stands before him.
There on the floor huffing with a broken knife and red cheeks, is Megumi. Pouting, angry, confused Megumi.
"Oh my god", Gojo whispers instantly dropping his bit of the blade as his eyes rack over the kid.
God, that's his kid.
His baby.
He looks just like the picture, just like Satoru. Same nose, same jaw, same bright-ass blue eyes. But there is so much of Utahime there too. Gojo can see it, the hair, the scowl, the way his eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed.
This is their baby. This is their blessing.
Satoru nearly crumbles on the floor. His body was so close that he practically fell over Megumi, and his arms surrounded the kid before either of them could think. It's a strange leaned-down, tight hug. An off-center cage of long limbs. The strongest cuddle, Satoru has ever initiated.
Gojo never wants to let go.
He wants to press Megumi into his chest forever, smell his pine-scented hair forever, be this close to him, forever.
As Satoru hugs, cuddles, and squeezes the life out of the child, Megumi frowns and pushes against the hold.
This man, whoever they were was strong. One of the strongest Megumi had ever seen actually, maybe even stronger than Sukuna. He knows that he doesn't stand a chance against this guy, not with these anti-curse cuffs on him.
Still, he needs to get out of this. The man is killing him, or at least trying to. He's crying and mumbling apologies so he must be an empathetic assassin, a strong-ass empathetic assassin. His arms are like fucking viper bands, tougher than cuffs on Megumi's own wrist.
Megumi can barely breathe, he won't be conscious in another few minutes if he lets this continue.
But how is he supposed to get out of this? How can he beat someone who not only is freakishly strong but also has a stupid force field around them?
Wait.
The small boy stalls, this man is holding him, squeezing him, touching him. Nothing is there, nothing to coat the man's clothes or his body.
The force field is gone.
Megumi doesn't wait, his own body moving automatically. With the broken knife still in his hand, he turns his wrist once, then twice, forcing the blade out of his hold and down into the man's shoulder.
Fuck.
Satoru winces, biting back a yell as he ushers to remove the jagged steel from his torso. His long arms instantly falling away from the kid as he pulls and prods at the hilt. When he finally does get the knife out of his shoulder he has little time to celebrate, Megumi has put a far distance between them. The broken piece from earlier now pointed directly in Satoru's direction. An angry scowl etched on the kid's face.
Gojo doesn't mean to mimic it. But just what the fuck was that. Why would Megumi do that?
Is he scared of him? Doesn't he know he doesn't need to be?
It's not like Satoru would ever hurt him.
Why would Megumi think he would?
As he contemplates all of this Gojo's scowl deepens, his shoulder throbs, and his blood flows freely down his crisp blue shirt.
Fuck, It's been a while since he's been stabbed. And the blood loss from Shoko's test is only making the injury more painful. He's low on energy too, all the teleporting he's been doing. The lack of sleep he's been getting. His head begins to ache, he almost feels dizzy.
Ugh, well this sucks.
He grumbles and groans, steering most of his cursed energy, nearly all of his cursed energy down to healing his shoulder.
As he does this, Megumi just catches his breath and stares. He knows he should be running, Megumi knows he should be warning Tsumiki and the others of the invader, but for some reason, he doesn't. Instead, he watches the man as he removes his shirt and wipes up the blood. The skin on his shoulder slowly stitching itself back together.
What the fuck.
"I'm not mad", Satoru said as he finished healing, he figured it was best to reassure Megumi before he lectured him.
Stabbing people isn't exactly good manners.
But, he's not sure what Megumi has been told about him. The Suns of Shiro's probably made him out to be some kind of monster.
He's not gonna blame the kid for being scared.
Megumi sniffs, "I wouldn't care if you were", he bites out. His eyebrows narrowed, frown set, he looked everything but sorry.
Everything but scared.
This only makes Gojo grin again, his eyes once again tracing every feature on Megumi's face. He's his physical twin for sure, but that mouth, those mannerisms.
Satoru's smile widens, he can't wait for Hime to see their baby.
As Gojo smiles and memorizes every detail he can grasp from simply looking at the kid. Megumi does the same. He tries to mark details about this weird invader, bullet points anything that seems important.
The first detail Megumi notes is the man's height. He notices the guy is tall, long-limbed, clearly over six feet. He wonders how fast the man is and if his height is more of an advantage or disadvantage.
The second detail Megumi notes is the man's mental state. The white-haired man keeps crying and smiling, it's weird. He may be bipolar, maybe manic.
Again, Megumi wonders if this is an advantage or disadvantage?
The third detail Megumi notices is the man's physical appearance. His hair is wild, a pure white that looks way too soft and rivals the gleam in his teeth. His eyes are blue, a bright almost neon color. So similar to Megumi's own eyes, a match actually.
Which is kind of strange. Really strange.
Megumi's never seen anyone with the same eye color as him. He's never seen anyone who shared a lick of similarity to him.
But this man, this guy has a lot.
It seems like with each second, Megumi notices another similarity. They have the same nose, same jaw, same ears, same fucking face.
What the fuck was he? Why was he there?
And who the hell sent him?
Seconds pass and Megumi reluctantly breaks the silence, his tone more than insecure."Why do we share facial similarities", he demanded, struggling a bit as he once again surveyed Gojo's face.
Who was this man? Why does he look like him?
Did the Suns of Shiro send him? Did the CCB?
Sukuna?
Should he have run earlier? Should he run now?
With every second more questions and anxiety pour into Megumi's head, it's irritating. He's worried he may have made a terrible mistake entertaining this. He should've run the second he realized the man was stronger. He should've hid the moment he heard an intruder outside.
Fuck, he messed up. He messed up bad.
To make it even worse the idiot still hasn't answered.
But how could Satoru?
The kid asked him who he is?
His kid asked him who he is?
Fuck, that's some shit.
Gojo chuckles, it's patronizing to Megumi's ears, bitter to his own.
His son doesn't know who is. He's the most famous jujitsu sorcerer in history, can't even go to a restaurant without being hounded by somebody. And yet, his baby has no idea who he is. Or why they look alike.
Un fucking acceptable.
Satoru takes long strides up to his son, and pauses when there is no space between them. He then crouches down, his electric blue eyes meet their mini mirror.
Megumi doesn't flinch staring at Gojo with his fist balled, a piece of the sharp blade from earlier hidden between his knuckles.
He knows he messed up now, but he's quick on his feet. He'll get out of this, he can still get away. As soon as the idiot makes a move, Megumi swears he will get away.
But instead of fighting him or squeezing him again as Megumi assumed, the white-haired man doesn't even touch him. Instead, he pulls a photo out of his pocket, a crumbled-up picture of three people.
One of them is the white-haired man himself, he's naked from the torso up, posing like some supermodel from the early 2000s. He looks younger and happier somehow. His mouth was open in a wide smile, almost like he was laughing. Next to him is a woman, her dark hair is wrapped in two pigtails with white ribbons. A beautiful red and white dress on her body. Finally in the middle is an infant, naked excluding the fresh diaper on its butt. A smile on its little face, twinkling blue eyes, dark midnight black hair.
"We took this when you were two months old, Hime almost had an entire fit when you threw up over your clothes. She definitely had one when you threw up over mine", Gojo chuckled, once again swiping his hand over the picture.
He was so happy that day, so very happy. Even with baby barf coating his entire neck.
Megumi just stares, he doesn't understand. That can't possibly be him. It isn't.
He doesn't have parents, he never did. He's a soldier from the Suns of Shiro, a military pillar in the cause.
That isn't him. It can't be.
He swipes the blade from between his knuckles, a threat that Gojo doesn't even bother acknowledging. "Your lies will only cause you more pain. Who sent you here? You have one chance before I make another hole", Megumi murmurs.
Satoru's frown is instant, he doesn't like Megumi's attitude or lack of faith, "Megumi I'm not lying, I'm your father- he starts, but he is cut off as the child takes a quick swipe at his face.
The blade doesn't meet his cheek, the kid's hand paused but an inch away. The force of infinity is so strong Megumi swears it's like swiping his fist through a brick building. He can't get it through, and the force he's using is only causing the blade to dig further into his own skin.
It hurts, alot, but Megumi's determined to at least get one more mark on the man. He tries to press the blade down a little harder the sharp metal cutting through his skin, nerves and muscles.
He doesn't make it any closer to Satoru's face, the blade is snatched away the second Gojo sees the blood leaking down the six-year-old arm.
"Megumi calm down", Satoru starts again, this time his voice is stern. It's an order almost. He's holding Megumi's bloody hand with his right, the blade with his left, and his eyes are racking over the wound as the kid pushes and squirms in his hold.
Shit, he fucked up. He really fucked up. How in the hell could he let this happen? His baby is bleeding, he is never supposed to bleed.
Satoru curses, damn near dragging Megumi to the counter as he rummages through Tsumiki's drawers and lectures the tot.
Seriously it was like the kid didn't even care he was cutting himself. He needed to be more careful.
As Gojo's speech drags on Megumi begins twisting his body and kicking his legs. It's a poor attempt at freeing himself. And all the movement does is cause his hand wound to open up more. A sight Satoru hates seeing, so Gojo tightens his hold on the kid and continues his scold as well as his search for bandages.
He doesn't want to scare Megumi, but he isn't about to let the kid hurt himself either.
He's told the kid twenty times now to be careful.
But Megumi doesn't hear him, won't hear him. How could he? The man just tightened his hold, any tighter and Megumi knows he won't be able to get out of this. The man still has the weapon in his other hand.
Fuck, he's got to get out of this. Quickly.
He frowns almost immediately, this guy is too strong, he's too close. "Let me go, now", Megumi huffed, still pushing and squirming within Satoru's hold.
Gojo sighed, seems like their kid had both of their tempers, "Megumi-
"I don't know who that is! And I don't know who you are", the boy interupts, once again pushing and twisting his arm away. Kicking as if he can somehow can get the giant to buckle or break. When it becomes clear that Gojo is no closer to breaking than he was a second ago, the child decides the next best thing is to break himself.
He twisted his wrist farther this time, dislocating it in several places, the creaking and cracking loud evidence that this wasn't Megumi's first time he broke a bone to get out of a cage. He easily slipped out of Satoru's grasp, hitting the floor before Gojo could blink.
He then spirited out of the home, little legs rushing to get away.
Satoru chases after him instantly, pleading and calling for Megumi to just stop, to wait, to listen. But the kid won't even look back, screaming 'fuck you' and 'go away' instead. His breathing was even as he ran faster and faster. Farther and farther away from the the freak.
As Megumi ran more Gojo quickly followed, the kid was good. His movement was so erratic and random that Satoru almost felt like applauding Megumi on a nearly effective escape attempt.
If he didn't have six eyes Satoru swears he might've had trouble keeping track.
For a second he entertains the thought of letting Megumi know that, always up for praising a budding sorcerer, but then he realizes it's probably not his greatest idea.
He doesn't exactly want Megumi to know how close he was to evading him after all.
And he really doesn't want Megumi to know how far is he from actually getting away.
So Gojo doesn't tell him, he doesn't say anything. He just keeps chasing the child, yelling out waits every now and then. Better to let Megumi run his energy out now.
The more tired the kid was, the less likely he was to hurt himself with any more escape attempts. Plus it's not like Gojo didn't have a clear view of Megumi. The distance between them was not even a full twelve feet, he can see Megumi's entire body and face. The kid's fine, his hand even stopped bleeding during the chase.
It seems like a good plan, just play tag until the tot starts to slow down.
Maybe the kid will be so tired Gojo will have no choice but to carry his baby home. Maybe Megumi will even let him carry him home, once he finally learns the truth.
It seemed like a good plan, it was a good plan.
But then, a chill hits Gojo's head, a curse enters his sight.
Fuck.
"I smeeell blooood!" a grotesque purple blob yelled, its sludging foot embedded with the shoes, shirts, and watches. Trophies of all the people it had eaten.
Megumi grimaces it would be hard to fight this thing without his powers, even harder with the idiot still tailing him. He didn't have a weapon with him either, maybe a tree branch would do. It was only a grade four after all. Slimy and slow, despite its razor-sharp teeth.
He could take it, he's sure.
It's too bad Gojo doesn't give him the chance.
Satoru materializes in front of Megumi faster than the speed of light, his hand barely glowing red before the left side of the forest is encompassed in it.
Red. Gojo's Red, it's so vivid, so intense.
Megumi has to shut his eyes just from the brightness of it, and when he opens them, the curse is gone, and half of the forest is gone with it.
Huh?
The boy huffs, shifting to stop, and stare up at the man who had just been chasing him. The same one who clearly could've trapped him at any time.
So why didn't he?
And who was he? What was he?
Satoru exhales loudly once more, he then brushes his hand over his hair, and steers his heart quiet. It was barely a grade four but still, he didn't like anything getting that close to Megumi. Not again.
Once he can't feel his heart in his gut, he steals a glance back at his child. Megumi was standing, staring at the forest in awe. Gojo almost pouts, he wishes he could've shown off to his son under less alarming circumstances, "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you", he murmurs, making sure to keep his cursed energy bottled up again.
Instantly Megumi snaps a glare up at him, " You didn't scare me", he protested, his face already shifting to an incredulous frown.
Scare him, hah. Fat chance.
The freak did not scare him, maybe worry him but-
Satoru smiles again, the kid really is the perfect mixture of them both. Utahime's sass and Satoru's snark. His grin only widens as he notices another little trait. His nose, Megumi still scrunches up his nose when he frowns, just like he did when he was baby.
A fussy little thing, that kid of his.
Gojo can't stop himself as he full-on chuckles, won't stop himself from grabbing the kids shoulder, "Sure, sure, but I think that's enough tag for one day. We should probably go back to Tsumiki's", he chirped half expecting the child to protest. Fully ready for the kid to make another break for it.
But Megumi doesn't, he doesn't even move, he simply stares up at Gojo as if he was the weirdest man ever.
Megumi thinks he is the weirdest man ever.
"Tsumiki", Megumi repeated, his face twisting into a denounced disbelief. "You know Tsumiki", he questioned again, now utterly completely confused.
It would make sense, the man was able to get into the house easily, Tsumiki might've even given him a key. He clearly could've hurt them all at any moment he wanted, so the giant probably wasn't an enemy.
But then if that was true, why did the idiot break the barrier Ito worked so hard to put up?
Why did he chase him miles away into curse territory?
And why the fuck is lying about being his parent?
Again Megumi stares back at Satoru, his scowl the perfect counter to the Gojo's ever-present smile.
"Prove it", the child challenged, waiting for the man to pull up a picture of Tsumiki or call her even. But Gojo doesn't. Instead, he once again invades Megumi's space, pulling the kid into his arms that second. Satoru then holds tight, his body glowing as the world around the duo shifts and fades.
It lasted minutes, seconds, years, Megumi's not sure.
All he knows is that now his stomach hurts, now he has a headache and now they're back in Tsumiki's barn. Except they aren't alone, in the middle of the living room are Tsumiki, Agent Kusakabe, and the dark-haired woman from the picture.
None of them look happy.
Dun DUN DUNNNN!
Hello Everyone! How are you? I've been really cool, finally had some time to write. And I'm so fucking excited to finally introduce our lil snot Megumi. This chapter was a bit of a struggle, I wanted to show Gojo POV while also showing Megumi's without being confusing. It was so hard lol.
For reference, Megumi currently still calls himself Fushiguro as that was the name he has always gone by, while Gojo has only known him as Megumi and only thinks of him by that name. But I redid this chapter as I hated the constant shifts of calling him Megumi and Fushiguro depending on their POV. I think it caused a block in the story, and made me as a reader pause way too much. So for now I'm gonna stick with calling him Megumi, even if he doesn't currently identify with that name. I will only do this when describing what he's thinking, feeling or doing. If Tsumiki or Atsuya are talking to him they will still of course call him Fushiguro.
I also want to stress I keep referring to Megumi in Gojo's POV as a baby on purpose. Megumi did go missing when he was a baby, so I picture Gojo keeps connecting all his current interactions with kid Megumi to baby Megumi. Which while a good coping mechanism may fuck up a budding relationship later on lol. Also, I really wanted to highlight the bits of Megumi's personality. He's not know average kid, more like a trained soldier lol That's gonna be a struggle the whole family will have to deal with.
Anyways I hope you like this newest chapter! Please comment and let me know what ya think. Thanks again for reading!